I know the season already started in Australia a week ago, but today is the US Opening Day. so I thought I would make post for all you guys and gals who love America's National Passtime..

3 Things to watch for this MLB Season:

Early in January 2014, MLBPA and MLB approved protective gear for pitchers after pitchers like Brandon McCarthy (ARI), J.A. Happ (TOR) and Bay's Alex Cobb (TB) were sidelined by head injuries caused from line drives.  Of course there is no mandate to wear them, and most players, and ironically the one of the players who got hurt won’t be wearing them.

The caps are about one inch wider than regular caps but add about seven ounces to the normal 3-to-4-ounce cap, and in theory are supposed to protect against 90-100 mph line drive.

Star pitcher Clayton Kershaw (LAD) has come out in support of the headgear. Too bad he won’t be pitching today, as he is on 15 day DL. Hyun-Jin Ryu starts against Padres in the US home opener – 8:00 P.M. E.D.T.

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There is an experimental rule in place (one year). Even MLB is not sure how the dynamics of scoring the runs, and by extension the whole game will be affected with this. In Feb 2014, MLBPA and MLB negotiated a rule. Rule 7.13 to be precise:

The rule involving the Home Plate collisions is as follows

The rule essentially discourages "the most egregious collisions at home plate." If the umpire determines that a hard-charging player purposely goes after the catcher and tries to initiate contact, the runner will be called out even if the catcher loses the ball.

However, for the catcher to obstruct the runner's path to home plate, he has to have possession of the ball—unless the umpire believes he couldn't have fielded the ball without obstructing the basepath. An automatic "safe" call will occur if the umpire feels that the catcher is intentionally blocking the plate without having received the throw.

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Now, the grand daddy of all changes…INSTANT REPLAY !

Both the Major League Baseball Players Association and the World Umpires Association have given their consent to the game's new protocols for instant replay. All 30 clubs of MLB gave their unanimous consent to the changes.  

These are the plays that are “reviewable”

• Home run
• Ground rule double
• Fan interference
• Stadium boundary calls (e.g., fielder into stands, ball into stands triggering dead ball)
• Force play (except the fielder's touching of second base on a double play)
• Tag play (including steals and pickoffs)
• Fair/foul in outfield only
• Trap play in outfield only
• Batter hit by pitch
• Timing play (whether a runner scores before a third out)
• Touching a base (requires appeal)
• Passing runners
• Record keeping (Ball-strike count to a batter, outs, score, and substitutions)

Calls such as, obstruction, interference, infield fly rule and check swings, and neighborhood plays at 2nd base are not reviewable.  

Home run calls that are currently subject to instant replay review will continue to be reviewed at the Crew Chief’s discretion. Managers may request that an Umpire review a home run call, but managers cannot challenge home run calls.

Every manager will get one challenge to start with. If he challenges the play, and the call gets overturned, he will get another chance. There are maximum of 2 chances in any given game.  After 7th inning and the manager has exhausted his ability to challenge the plays, the umpires can invoke instant replay on any reviewable call, but they don’t have to.  

All the review decisions will be taking place in state of the art command center in New York. There will be no cameras on the field. The communication between the crew and command center will be carried out via headsets.

The club’s decision whether to review the call or not will be conveyed via dugout phone to a video specialist in the clubhouse. He will have the same access to the cameras as the personnel in the command center.  

 
** Sources
MLB.COM
SI.COM
ESPN.COM